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The unique nerve terminal targeting of botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) is due to its capacity to bind two receptors on the neuronal plasma membrane: polysialoganglioside (PSG) and synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2 (SV2). Whether and how PSGs and SV2 may coordinate other proteins for BoNT/A recruitment and internalization remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the targeted endocytosis of BoNT/A into synaptic vesicles (SVs) requires a tripartite surface nanocluster. Live‐cell super‐resolution imaging and electron microscopy of catalytically inactivated BoNT/A wildtype and receptor‐binding‐deficient mutants in cultured hippocampal neurons demonstrated that BoNT/A must bind coincidentally to a PSG and SV2 to target synaptic vesicles. We reveal that BoNT/A simultaneously interacts with a preassembled PSG‐synaptotagmin‐1 (Syt1) complex and SV2 on the neuronal plasma membrane, facilitating Syt1‐SV2 nanoclustering that controls endocytic sorting of the toxin into synaptic vesicles. Syt1 CRISPRi knockdown suppressed BoNT/A‐ and BoNT/E‐induced neurointoxication as quantified by SNAP‐25 cleavage, suggesting that this tripartite nanocluster may be a unifying entry point for selected botulinum neurotoxins that hijack this for synaptic vesicle targeting. Synopsis: Synaptic targeting of botulinum neurotoxins is mediated by interaction with toxin‐type‐specific receptors and complex gangliosides, such as polysialoganglioside (PSG). This study shows that botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) uptake and sorting into synaptic vesicles requires a tripartite nanocluster on the neuronal plasma membrane. Live‐cell super‐resolution and electron microscopy in primary hippocampal neurons shows BoNT/A synaptic vesicle targeting depends on a tripartite PSG‐synaptotagmin 1 (Syt1)‐synaptic vesicle protein 2 (SV2) nanocluster on the plasma membrane.Coincidental binding of BoNT/A to a preassembled PSG‐Syt1 complex and SV2 facilitates Syt1‐SV2 nanoclustering on the neuronal plasma membrane and endocytic sorting of the toxin into synaptic vesicles.Syt1 is required for the BoNT/A and BoNT/E neurointoxication, suggesting a general mechanism of entry for clostridial botulinum neurotoxins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caveolae are specialized domains present in the plasma membrane (PM) of most mammalian cell types. They function in signalling, membrane regulation, and endocytosis. We found that the Eps-15 homology domain-containing protein 2 (EHD2, an ATPase) associated with the static population of PM caveolae. Recruitment to the PM involved ATP binding, interaction with anionic lipids, and oligomerization into large complexes (60-75S) via interaction of the EH domains with intrinsic NPF/KPF motifs. Hydrolysis of ATP was essential for binding of EHD2 complexes to caveolae. EHD2 was found to undergo dynamic exchange at caveolae, a process that depended on a functional ATPase cycle. Depletion of EHD2 by siRNA or expression of a dominant-negative mutant dramatically increased the fraction of mobile caveolar vesicles coming from the PM. Overexpression of EHD2, in turn, caused confinement of cholera toxin B in caveolae. The confining role of EHD2 relied on its capacity to link caveolae to actin filaments. Thus, EHD2 likely plays a key role in adjusting the balance between PM functions of stationary caveolae and the role of caveolae as vesicular carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For positive-strand RNA viruses, the viral genomic RNA also acts as an mRNA directing the translation of the replicase proteins of the virus. Replication takes place in association with cytoplasmic membranes, which are heavily modified to create specific replication compartments. Here we have expressed by plasmid DNA transfection the large replicase polyprotein of Semliki Forest virus (SFV) in mammalian cells from a nonreplicating mRNA and provided a separate RNA containing the replication signals. The replicase proteins were able to efficiently and specifically replicate the template in trans, leading to accumulation of RNA and marker gene products expressed from the template RNA. The replicase proteins and double-stranded RNA replication intermediates localized to structures similar to those seen in SFV-infected cells. Using correlative light electron microscopy (CLEM) with fluorescent marker proteins to relocate those transfected cells, in which active replication was ongoing, abundant membrane modifications, representing the replication complex spherules, were observed both at the plasma membrane and in intracellular endolysosomes. Thus, replication complexes are faithfully assembled and localized in the trans-replication system. We demonstrated, using CLEM, that the replication proteins alone or a polymerase-negative polyprotein mutant together with the template did not give rise to spherule formation. Thus, the trans-replication system is suitable for cell biological dissection and examination in a mammalian cell environment, and similar systems may be possible for other positive-strand RNA viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like other positive-strand RNA viruses, alphaviruses replicate their genomes in association with modified intracellular membranes. Alphavirus replication sites consist of numerous bulb-shaped membrane invaginations (spherules), which contain the double-stranded replication intermediates. Time course studies with Semliki Forest virus (SFV)-infected cells were combined with live-cell imaging and electron microscopy to reveal that the replication complex spherules of SFV undergo an unprecedented large-scale movement between cellular compartments. The spherules first accumulated at the plasma membrane and were then internalized using an endocytic process that required a functional actin-myosin network, as shown by blebbistatin treatment. Wortmannin and other inhibitors indicated that the internalization of spherules also required the activity of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. The spherules therefore represent an unusual type of endocytic cargo. After endocytosis, spherule-containing vesicles were highly dynamic and had a neutral pH. These primary carriers fused with acidic endosomes and moved long distances on microtubules, in a manner prevented by nocodazole. The result of the large-scale migration was the formation of a very stable compartment, where the spherules were accumulated on the outer surfaces of unusually large and static acidic vacuoles localized in the pericentriolar region. Our work highlights both fundamental similarities and important differences in the processes that lead to the modified membrane compartments in cells infected by distinct groups of positive-sense RNA viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The replication complexes of positive-strand RNA viruses are always associated with cellular membranes. The morphology of the replication-associated membranes is altered in different ways in different viral systems, but many viruses induce small membrane invaginations known as spherules as their replication sites. We show here that for Semliki Forest virus (SFV), an alphavirus, the size of the spherules is tightly connected with the length of the replicating RNA template. Cells with different model templates, expressed in trans and copied by the viral replicase, were analyzed with correlative light and electron microscopy. It was demonstrated that the viral-genome-sized template of 11.5 kb induced spherules that were~58 nm in diameter, whereas a template of 6 kb yielded~39-nm spherules. Different sizes of viral templates were replicated efficiently in trans, as assessed by radioactive labeling and Northern blotting. The replication of two different templates, in cis and trans, yielded two size classes of spherules in the same cell. These results indicate that RNA plays a crucial determining role in spherule assembly for SFV, in direct contrast with results from other positive-strand RNA viruses, in which either the presence of viral RNA or the RNA size do not contribute to spherule formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]